BIPOC employees are worried about retirement and need advisers that understand why

Diversity and inclusion initiatives should do more than just set employees up for success in their current position. It should set them up for success in the future, too.

The majority of BIPOC workers — 52% Black, 56% Hispanic and 62% Asian — worry they won’t have enough money saved for retirement, according to the 2021 Retirement Risk Readiness Study conducted by financial services company Allianz. While this is comparable to the 56% of white workers who are also worried about adequate savings, 46% of those employees are receiving professional help with their finances. In contract, just 38% of Black respondents, 44% of Hispanic respondents and 36% of Asian respondents are working with an adviser.

The disparity isn’t driven by a lack of resources, according to Travis Walker, adviser specialist at Allianz Life. Instead, it’s indicative of BIPOC employees’ reluctance to seek retirement help from advisers and a lack of confidence in advisers’ ability to truly understand their concerns.

“One of the common things you hear when discussing someone's portfolio is the need to diversify,” Walker says. “Well, the same object can be applied to financial professionals and whom they serve — they have to get to these communities and step outside of what's probably been their comfort zone.”

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When helping BIPOC communities plan for their financial future, there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach — financial professionals have to consider cultural dynamics and how they affect their minority client base. For example, the Allianz survey found that 76% of Asian employees worry that healthcare costs will be so high they won’t be able afford the care they need; 64% of Hispanic employees are afraid of running out of money before they die; and 55% of Black employees are worried that the rising cost of living will keep them from enjoying their retirement.

These are all factors that likely stem from different perspectives and affect BIPOC clients’ approaches to spending and saving, according to Walker.

“Advisers can be more proactive about their approach to expanding their client pool by learning more about these groups and being authentic,” Walker says. “Whether the client is Black, white, Hispanic or Asian, everyone wants to work with specialists that they feel comfortable with and they feel understands them.”

For the financial services industry, it’s not just critical to acknowledge the need for diversity in approaches, but in their advisers as well. Minority respondents listed the cost of financial planning as one of the biggest barriers keeping them from seeking it out. According to Walker, having an adviser that clients can see themselves in can often help them take that first step and ask those early and introductory questions, even if they’re worried it’s out of their financial reach.

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“There may be some hesitancy for people to come towards you,” he says. “And looking at it from a representation standpoint, I don't think the financial services industry has always had that, but I do think that they recognize it as a challenge.”

There is work left to be done in order to change BIPOC employees’ mentality around retirement, and it’s work that has to happen whether the industry is prepared to do it or not. Because at the end of the day, BIPOC employees are retiring, and they are in need of help and the companies that don’t evolve to fit their needs will be left behind.

“I don't think that at this point [change] can necessarily happen organically in an industry that hasn't been as welcoming to a certain group,” Walker says. “They're really going to have to be deliberate in what comes through their recruiting, hiring, retention, outreach and marketing if they're going to reach these groups and change direction of where this is going.”